Time is running out for SENSE

I am steadily becoming very disappointed with the Sense. It is behing DD-WRT, protection abilities are somewhat obscure, reporting and visibility is non-existent and it's missing VPN, Guest Wi-Fi and pretty much any advanced feature.

Then again, I'm clearly the wrong focus group being in IT. This router should be used by 60+ persons who do not care about IoT or security and do not use Android or IoS phones, but landline. Or should it? Perhaps F-Secure has failed to tailor the abilities to meet the customer groups. Most users are early adopters with expectations of features the product just promises to have. Without any committed deadlines or dates.

I'm not seeing this product on supermarkets, so I'm just counting the days F-Secure throws in the towel and announces to discontinue the development and sales due to disappointing sales figures and lack of adoptance. After creating such a hype of course.

I am waiting the subscription to end and getting a new Asus router instead. I hope they will make a nice discount for SAFE subscriptions to keep getting at least some revenue from disappointed eary adopters.

Here are the questions to win me back:

- What is the roadmap with dates to get the features rolled-out?

- Are you still actively developing the product or have you given up already?

- What is coming on the security side?

- How are you going to meet the needs for logging, reporting and visibility for more advanced users? Or do you want to take it to simplified direction?

- If you fail in the retail markets, does this stop the development and make you abandon the users?

Answers

Sorry for my reply. And sorry for my feelings and opinion (because I do not use F-Secure SENSE and I am not a F-Secure SENSE user /partly based on such meanings/ - but SENSE activities was interesting to me).

Recently I found under some of F-Secure Business pages certain description for kind of 'branding' (and so on). Just like with normal security solutions. Partnerships with IPS and so on.

Based on this (even 'discontinued'-state is likely situation) sounds that F-Secure SENSE with internal power to be continued (include potential "F-Secure SENSE 2.0" events).

For me (as only potential F-Secure SENSE user) - it is also interesting such things like 'security and normal abilities' of router. For example, does it still good router (if do not discuss subscription's based features). And, maybe, it is good to explain current design of SENSE with comparison like:

-- such feature against such potential weakness, trouble or vector (potential "CVEs" of other routers).

-- such design against potential such limitation (for example, does it possible to rename/hide SENSE SSID for opt-out such kind of 'features').

and so on.

Compared to most (?) of other F-Secure solutions - I feel that SENSE should be with well-explained and well-reasoned design (or well-sensible with such situation). But it is not always clear.

Agree. The asking price is way too much and the likelyhood of ever getting the features is reducing day by day. Seems that they just try to bury the product and get over with their life.

Renew all of current Sense owners subscriptions for one more year for free: This is a good idea to compensate for the lost time waiting for the features. No commitment or promise they will ever arrive.

Provide roadmap on the features on Quarter level: Needed to keep the customers when subscription is ending. I'm not renewing unless critical features are delivered in next Q and there is commitment to take it to a level meeting expectations.

Reduce the Sense's price to 99€, which was the pre-order price which I paid.(I wouldn't definitely pay 199€ for Sense in it's current state.: If they want new customers, that's what they may need to do to get it to retail + throw in F-Sec Safe for a year.

I think the can try to brand it for Gigantti or Elisa etc, but then the direction is to keep it very basic and sell it to masses. You can pretty much forget more adavanced features and they will just try to get the investment back.

Or perhaps all the development is in Sense 2.0, where the USB will actually do more than just relay 5 V power. And they will offer that -10 % to early adopters to compensate the disappointment.

Ukko, want to buy my Sense? I can make a good proposal. It's a watch that also works as a basic router.

I think the can try to brand it for Gigantti or Elisa etc, but then the direction is to keep it very basic and sell it to masses. You can pretty much forget more adavanced features and they will just try to get the investment back.

Or perhaps all the development is in Sense 2.0, where the USB will actually do more than just relay 5 V power. And they will offer that -10 % to early adopters to compensate the disappointment.

Ukko, want to buy my Sense? I can make a good proposal. It's a watch that also works as a basic router.

your sense is your own.

In fact, I do not use iOS devices and I do not have Android device with enough "supported" OS build for F-Secure SENSE. My smartphone with other OSs or with unsupported Android.

so, for smartrouter - I also have to receive a fresh supported Android device. But.... "a stylish watch" is considered. But I will delay it until firmware with upgrade for 'customization' (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5BoC1D4yc4)

We are selling SENSE in selected EU countries and in the US and we are planning to enter new markets too. This is by far the widest geographical coverage in this new product category - most competitors sell in the US only.

We are selling SENSE both online and in retail stores in selected countries and selected retail chains. And no, we are not planning to sell SENSE in supermarkets anytime soon. Let’s recap what we have released since launch:

Very importantly, we responded to standard protocol and chip design vulnerabilities like the BlueBorne Bluetooth vulnerability, KRACKS WiFi vulnerability, Meltdown/Spectre. Unlike many other routers we responded to them in a timely manner.

Many routers never or rarely get any firmware updates, and it is unclear what vulnerabilities get fixed and when, if at all. Having a secured router is already very good value!

We can say that Guest WiFi is coming to SENSE soon. Unlike Guest WiFi in your ordinary router the guest WiFi in SENSE includes in-router protection as well.

In addition, localization support for Finnish, French, Dutch and Japanese will be released in the coming days. More languages and new features will come later.

Considering that you get a router with a secured firmware, you get in-router security for all your connected devices at home and you get endpoint protection for all personal devices your family has, we truly believe SENSE is a very good value for the money. And SENSE will evolve to fight the ever-growing online threats out there.

Thank you for the response. I'm still not convinced and after considering the market, I have selected to go with Asus-model. They provide sufficient management abilities, wide variety of out-of-box abilities and options to configure my own security settings. They were quicker to offer a pacthed firmware for Krack than F-Secure and with Trend AI Protection offer convincing security package.

For roadmap, as an example VPN support has been main issue, still unresolved by F-Sec. Without any commitment or indication of this ability, there is no deal for me.

I'm happy to report I got my money back in full and my new router is fully operational.

While I understand the goals of F-Secure, the feeling of having setup web access (SSL), OpenVPN server, traffic analytics, web site history, reporting in threat protection, remote syslog abilities, configuration backup and lots more available is like coming to home.

So all the best for F-Sec in the consumer markets, but clearly my needs could not be met with the pace of their development and direction they were taking the product.

I did my purchase a bit after the official launch, so not a preorder. Cannot recall the exact month, but was happy to get my money back. I also got a message of getting subscription extended, not sure what that means for me, but we'll see.

I feel sorry for FSec, trying so hard but failing to meet the expectations. Seems that still there is no clear roadmap and competition is getting harder. Asus / Trend together are providing tested solution. I am staying away from niche products, rather enjoy wider user base and the benefits it brings.